Interviews

Alexis Herman on U.S. Economy

This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," November 4, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: In the meantime, two years, $2.5 billion, and an endless assault on the U.S. economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

There's something fundamentally wrong with our economy.

Not when there's so many Americans without jobs and without homes, not when there are families who can't afford to see a doctor or send their child to college or even pay the bills at the end of the month.

Businesses and families can't get credit. Home values are falling. Foreclosures are rising. Pensions are disappearing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: Can he still talk that way if — if — he becomes president and he is running the show?

Let's ask former Clinton Labor Secretary Alexis Herman.

Alexis, always great having you.

ALEXIS HERMAN, FORMER U.S. LABOR SECRETARY: Always good to be with you, Neil.

CAVUTO: There is that challenge, right? You remember Bill Clinton. He had it, you have to talk down the economy, but, once it's your economy, you can't talk it down too much, right?

HERMAN: Well, that is true.

But the reality is, I think that we have had a lot more discussion in this election about the economy and the different visions. And I really believe that what Barack Obama has laid out as his plan, his vision, is a plan that you are going to see him follow through on when he is elected president of the United States.

CAVUTO: That might be. That might be. But do you think there is any risk with, you know, anyone who becomes president of the United States, foreign leaders remembering what he said about the United States when he was running for president, that it was going to hell in a handbasket, that it was on the brink of the Great Depression, pretty strong words that, at the very least, could — could sting investor confidence, right?

HERMAN: Well, I think we have already seen investor confidence certainly at some very low points.

And I, quite frankly, Neil, think that Barack Obama has been telling the truth about this economy. We have some very tough times, some very tough challenges ahead of us. You know that.

CAVUTO: Well, at what point, then, Alexis, do you think that it becomes the incumbent's economy? Is it a year after? In other words, how things look a year later, then the guy whose watch it is, is the guy whose responsibility it is?

HERMAN: Well, I think that, generally, if we look historically, people usually look at that first year.

But the reality is that we are in a period now unlike really no point, as Senator Obama has said, really since the Great Depression. So, I think voters are sophisticated enough to understand this is going to take time. We have gotten ourselves into a very deep hole. We did not get here overnight. And we're not going to get out overnight.

CAVUTO: But you are not comparing it — you are not comparing it to the Great Depression, are you?

HERMAN: I am not comparing it to the Great Depression, but I...

CAVUTO: Well, why do Democrats keep saying Great Depression?

HERMAN: Because I think, in terms of just recent memory, recent times, when you look statistically at what has happened with job erosion, when you look at what has happened with our banking industry, the fact of the matter is, we have had no period to compare it to.

I think it was former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan who called it our economic tsunami. And that is all of the metaphors we have been using.

CAVUTO: A tsunami that apparently he did not see coming, right?

HERMAN: A tsunami that...

CAVUTO: Yes.

HERMAN: .. a lot of people did not see coming.

But I think what is good about this election, Neil, is that the economy has taken center stage. And I believe, when Barack Obama is elected president — and I do believe he's going to win — that we're going to have clear focus, clear direction, and, I think, a bipartisan spirit to get us on the road again.

CAVUTO: All right.

Secretary, thank you very much for joining us — Alexis Herman...

HERMAN: Thank you.

CAVUTO: ... Bill Clinton's labor secretary.

Thank you, ma'am.

HERMAN: Thank you.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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